The present invention relates to copy production machines, particularly of the convenience copier type, having the capability of producing a succession of copy jobs (which may be unrelated) in a succession of copy runs and of controllng a succession of such copy runs as a single copy job.
Transfer electrographic copy production machines, as well as other copy production machines of diverse types, employ various forms of image transformation for putting an image on a sheet of copy paper. Usually an image in latent form is generated and transferred to a copy sheet. In some convenience copier types of copy production machines, only one run of copies can be produced automatically, i.e., an original document containing a single image is placed on a document glass. Upon actuation of a start button, or suitable document sensing apparatus, the copy production machine produces a given number of copies in accordance with the operator-inserted number in a control panel of the copier. Upon completion of the copies automatically produced, the copy production machine would stop. However, in some instances a semiautomatic document feed (SADF) enables an operator to provide a succession of original documents in a semiautomatic mode to a document glass. In such instances the copy production machine senses the presence of an additional original document and then automatically restarts for making a second run. A succession of related original documents can be conveniently termed as a copy job i.e., an operator wants to produce a given number of copies of a given number of original documents. Accordingly, each copy job is characterized by one or more copy runs.
Some copy production machines have an automatic document feed, i.e., the machine will automatically handle original documents for providing collated sets without collating the produced copies. In such a situation a copy job includes a plurality of successive runs producing a plurality of sets of documents. As used herein, the term set of documents is referred to as a subjob to be separated by a separation sheet, for example. Accordingly, when an automatic document feed handles original documents on the behalf of a copy production machine, a subjob is considered as a complete job for the copy production machine. The automatic document feed then ties a succession of these copy production machine jobs into a complete copy producing job as defined in the automatic document feed.
Furthermore, copy production machines have usually a copy paper sources. Such plurality of copy paper sources are usually referred to as the main supply and as the auxiliary supply. Generally, the main supply has a capability of storing a greater number of copy sheets than the auxiliary supply. By operator selection, the copy production machine will select copy sheets from either of the copy sheet sources. In some machines, a roll of paper provides a source of copy sheets. Along these lines, a plurality of rolls may be provided or a combination of rolls and precut sheets of copy paper may be utilized as a plurality of sources of copy paper.
One feature of copy production machines is that collators for collating produced copies can be attached to such machines. Such collating apparatus is usually quite expensive. Accordingly, it is desired, in order to control cost, to minimize the size of the attached collator. When the collator has reduced size, the copy producing capability of the copy production machine may be limited by the collator capacity. Also, it may be desired not to have a collator, which often occurs in a relatively small office where the number of collated copies is a minor requirement.
It is desirable for operator convenience to enable the copy production machine to produce as many copy jobs as possible without intervention by the operator, i.e., the operator having to remove produced copies from the output portion of the copy production machine.